. >> the fiscal cliff remains the focus today, as investors awaited further news on the negotiations. u.s. stock futures are lower in early trading. u.s. stocks ended the day lower, as read some comments sparked a late today sell- off. on tap for today, investors will get a look at the health of the housing market, when the census bureau work release of october's data on new home sales. later this morning, the federal reserve released the october edition of its beige book, a survey of regional economics. apple has reportedly fired the manager responsible for its troubled mapping software. richard williamson, who oversaw the mapping team, was pushed out by senior vice president eddy cue. will some follows in the footsteps of i o s software head scott forstall, who was fired a month ago after refusing to apologize for the maps launch fiasco. >> protesters are calling on the president to scale back his new powers. take a look at video from protesters last night. tens of thousands of people packed the tahir square last night in a demonstration that was mostly peaceful, however one protest